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The £50,000 megawatt: High stakes Triad season is upon us

The cost of using electricity in the Triad periods is set to rise again this winter. Mark Cox, Key Account Manager, discusses when we are most likely to see the Triads and how best to avoid them.

Half hourly electricity demand over the Triad periods (the three highest half hourly peak demand periods between November and February separated by 10 days) is National Grid’s mechanism for covering the cost of operating the transmission system.

Historic second year of Energy Labels issued to our customers today

We are now in our second year of issuing Energy Labels to our renewable electricity customers. Mike Shirley, Head of Marketing, discusses their importance in providing our customers transparency and clarity.

Buying renewable electricity for your business is a simple concept but there is a level of complexity involved in proving the origins of that electricity which inhibits take-up by some.

Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates were created to provide clarity for renewable...

Could you achieve a better power price with a trigger-based PPA?

Our recent Power Shift report looks at how generators should switch from fixed Power Purchase Agreements to longer-term structured hedging strategies to get the best revenues in a changing energy market. Chris Smith, Head of Renewable Sales, highlights the potential revenue gains in light of recent market volatility.

Over recent years, the landscape for independent generators has changed rapidly, with subsidies and embedded benefits being reduced and wholesale markets becoming complex and...

The practicalities of using Demand Side Response are rapidly becoming more realistic

It is clear there is a huge interest in the uptake of Demand Side Response (DSR) from businesses. Head of Commercial for Industrial & Commercial Supply, Nicolas Begu, examines the practicalities of expanding DSR to its full potential.

While DSR is widely discussed as the next major step-change in the UK energy sector, currently only large companies are getting involved by making an agreed amount of their usage available to be turned up or down if required by the National Grid.

The CfD auction results announced this week will deliver significant value for the GB market. Iain Robertson, Vice President Renewables, discusses the impacts on the future energy mix.

The second Contacts for Difference (CfD) auction has awarded contracts to 11 projects totalling 3.3GW for the delivery years 2021/22 and 2022/23, with the significantly reduced strike prices proving the economic value of renewables in the energy mix.

How renewable is your organisation’s supply chain?

As the world’s most influential companies commit to purchasing 100% renewable electricity, Mike Shirley, SmartestEnergy’s Head of Marketing, looks at how businesses can help support the low-carbon transition by pushing renewables down their supply chain.

As the first company in the UK to offer Certified Renewable Electricity, we talk to a lot of companies that realise the benefits of purchasing renewable electricity.

On a global scale, earlier in the summer the RE100 announced it had reached...

A new energy landscape is rapidly evolving in the UK. Following the launch of our 'Power Shift' report, Iain Robertson, Vice President of Renewables, discusses the challenges and opportunities for independent generators.

The generation system which has been long-dominated by large-scale fossil fuel plants is being replaced by a decentralised, cleaner and smarter one. This huge shift has seen thousands of new renewable energy projects come on stream in recent years.

As Ofgem publish new proposals to keep regulation up-to-date with the changing energy system, both industry players and consumers are asking what it means. Simon White, Regulatory Analyst, outlines the latest plans and their impacts on end users

Energy moves so fast nowadays that it sometimes seems the future is already old news. Talking about the “future energy system” is easy, but the detailed changes required to actually deliver it are complex and wide-ranging.

Could your organisation be more active in the energy system?

SmartestEnergy is a partner of the Living Grid initiative to encourage organisations becoming more active in the energy system. Mike Watts, Strategic Sales Manager, discusses why more organisations are taking on an active role and the steps to get started on this journey.

Traditionally, most businesses have been passive in the energy system – running their operations with little thought about energy, apart from the price they pay and how to use less.

New battery storage investment - is this the push that the industry has been waiting for?

The Government has recently pledged major support for battery storage as part of plans to modernise the energy system. James Graham, Head of Asset Optimisation Sales, discusses what the industry requires to overcome existing barriers and enable more battery storage in the future energy mix.

Interest and investment in battery storage has really ramped up over the past year since we published our “Making the commercial case for battery storage” report to address the challenges facing the sector.